Python List – Get Last N Elements

Python List – Get last N elements

To get the last N elements of a list in Python, you can use negative indexing and slicing.

For example, if my_list is a given list of elements, then the syntax of the expression to get the last N elements in the list my_list is

my_list[-N:]

The negative index count from end of the list. Therefore [-N:] specifies the last N elements.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to get the last N elements in a given list, with examples.

Examples

The following are some of the examples, where we take a list of elements, and get the last N elements from the list using index.

1. Get the last 5 elements in the given list of integers in Python

In this example, we take a list of integer values, and get the last 5 elements in the list, and print it to standard output.

my_list = [2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20]
N = 5
last_n_elements = my_list[-N:]
print(f"Last N elements : {last_n_elements}")

Output

Last N elements : [12, 14, 16, 18, 20]

Explanation

2,   4,  6,  8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20  ← list elements
-10 -9  -8  -7  -6  -5  -4  -3  -2  -1  ← negative index values
                    ↑________________↑
                     last 5 elements
                    12, 14, 16, 18, 20

2. Get the last 5 elements in the list when length of list is 3

In this example, we take a list of string values, and get the last 5 elements in the list. But the twist here is that the N value is greater than the number of elements in the list.

my_list = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
N = 5
last_n_elements = my_list[-N:]
print(f"Last N elements : {last_n_elements}")

Output

Last N elements : ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

If the -N exceeds the indices of the elements in the list, Python does not raise any exception, instead it considers the starting of the list.

Summary

In this Python Lists tutorial, we have seen how to get the last N elements of the given list using slicing.